Correction tape dispensers can be used to cover mistakes made on a substrate, such as a sheet of paper, including writing or typing errors. In a common example, a correction tape dispenser includes a housing inside which a supply spool and a take-up spool are disposed. A carrier ribbon has a first end wound about the supply spool and a second end wound about a take-up spool. One side of the carrier ribbon is coated with a corrective coating that is used to cover a mistake on a substrate.
An applicator tip having a platform with a front edge is attached to the housing with the front edge being outside the housing. The applicator tip assists in the transfer of the corrective coating from the carrier ribbon to the paper.
The housing can be held in the hand during use. In passing from the supply spool to the take-up spool, the carrier ribbon is directed to the applicator tip, across the platform, around the front edge, and back to the take-up spool. The front edge of the applicator tip creates a sharp bend in the ribbon to assist in releasing the corrective coating from the ribbon. The front edge presses the carrier ribbon against the surface of a sheet of paper or other substrate in order to transfer the corrective coating from the carrier ribbon onto the paper so as to cover a mistake made thereon and to facilitate the correction of the mistake.
As the front edge is moved across the paper, carrier ribbon with a fresh corrective coating is drawn from the supply spool while the take-up spool is driven to wind up the carrier ribbon which has passed over the front edge and hence from which the corrective coating has been removed. Thus, a straight continuous strip of corrective coating is laid down on the paper surface until the forward movement of the applicator tip is stopped and the tip is lifted away from the paper.
Present designs allow the applicator tip to be flexible so as to permit the user to more easily maintain contact between the applicator tip and the substrate. The goal of these designs is to make it easier to maintain contact between the edge of the applicator tip and the paper across which it is being dragged, even though the relative orientation of tip to the substrate might not be steady or constant. Many of these designs use a reduced cross sectional thickness over a portion of the applicator tip to provide the flexibility. This necessarily creates a thin portion of the applicator tip which is subject to manufacturing flaws and or failure.
In another aspect of present applicator tip designs, tape guides extend perpendicularly from the platform of applicator tip. These tape guides attempt to maintain alignment of the carrier ribbon to the applicator tip and the edge while the dispenser is in use, and not allow the carrier ribbon to slip off the side of the platform.
The tape guides of the prior art applicator tips are generally disposed outside the housing. Because the majority of these designs include tape guides that extend perpendicularly from the edge, these tape guides cannot rotate or flex within the housing and still have a tight fit within the housing.
While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative constructions, certain illustrative embodiments thereof have been shown in the drawings and will be described below in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the disclosure to the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, and the equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.